#NewThisDay Writing From My Photo Stream

Causeway

Causeway

Such a cranky walk, despite the sun, the heat, the call of the birds, the lapping water, the blue bay and the warm sand. I’m overtired, and I enjoy taking the pictures, but I cannot turn off the complaining voice in my head because I haven’t gotten enough sleep and my comfortable habits are disrupted. But, the thing is, I’m up early, as planned, and I’m trying my best to wake up and feel grateful to be alive, which, of course I am. And, after the coffee, after arriving at the Board Retreat for the second day, I am waking up into cheerfulness and energy. Our work begins with friendship and laughter and a deep sense of purpose and commitment. We’re here to serve our membership, writers, women, using their voices effectively to be heard and read. I’m fully engaged, we’re connected, we’re cohesive, we’re creative, we’re committed, we listen and respect each other’s ideas, we disagree without fighting and we allow ourselves to be swayed by other points of view and even in a moment of discomfort, of a difficult truth being shared, we turn toward the speaker saying the hard to hear thing, and we lean in, and we thank her for saying it, and we mean it. She has opened our minds and helped us grow. Over dinner, the gratitude pours in, and I’m the receiver, when our youngest board member, new, tells me how much I influenced her using her voice in our first summer writing conference she attended when I encouraged her to write and perform her monologue in front of an audience - it was a profound shift for her, a major self-discovery. She thanked me, and I am grateful to know my teaching and mentoring has made a difference in such a personal way.

After our sessions all day, a few of us went for a welcome walk around the neighborhood to stretch our legs. I wasn’t cranky any more AT ALL.

Dorothy Randall Gray, Morgan Lett, Me, Laura Kieley